The Cords
The Cords

The Ramones saved rock’n’roll and carried on for twenty years like a platoon on a mission to defend the front-line trench.

Then I had to wait another twenty years for an unlikely blonde girl to come along before I could see the light again and realize that the salvation of rock’n’roll and everything connected to it lies entirely in the teenage enthusiasm and recklessness of some untamed girls.

Today, it’s the turn of two very young Scottish sisters, Eva and Grace Tedeschi—guitar and drums, calling themselves Cords—who, in just over a year, have released three singles (one with a Christmas theme) and, a couple of months ago, their first self-titled album. In between, they’ve played countless gigs supporting new, deeply cult bands like Chime School and Umbrellas, but also recognized institutions like Belle And Sebastian and BMX Bandits.

Their aesthetics recall Sarah Records and even more so the pop side of K; their ethic is one hundred percent Ramones: three chords at most, just three songs out of thirteen cross the three-minute mark, always staying faithful to the intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-outro pattern, solos absolutely out of the question, a deluge of “ba ba ba ba ba” and “uh uh uh”: because this is the great year of indie pop—Horsegirl lit the long fuse in February, and Cords blew everything up in September.

Eight seconds and a guitar riff as simple as it is unforgettable—the adrenaline-pumping kick-off of “Fabulist” was all it took for Cords to win me over with an album that, in the end, shines as bright as the sky on those wind-swept December days and feels as warm as a log burning in the hearth.

Thirteen songs that could, in the end, be just one—unrepeatable, because it will be impossible to do better than this. So Eva and Grace don’t shy away from perceptible detours to sketch out a plausible future scenario: “Yes It’s True”—an energetic shoegaze; “When You Say Goodbye”—a beautiful electric ballad by two girls full of grace, able to sit on a bench after a headlong dash without losing an ounce of their charm; everything else, a thoroughly enjoyable and equally accomplished remake of what all-female bands like Talulah Gosh and Tiger Trap gifted us so many years ago.

By far the most beautiful thing I’ve heard this year—one of those that will keep resonating for a long time with unbreakable enthusiasm and passion.